


A Little Water Quickens The Flame

by StandinShadow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Child Abandonment, Fluff, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Major Character Injury, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 08:31:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11870529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StandinShadow/pseuds/StandinShadow
Summary: For The Voltron General Big Bang:Lance of the X Water Tribe is pumped to protect Avatar Allura from danger and reclaim Capitol City for the people. Lance just wished he didn't have to do it with his long-time rival and firebender Keith. But as he and Keith get to know each other better, Lance realizes there's more to the other boy than he thought, and Keith finally starts to open up.Will Lance be able to get past Keith's walls and will Keith be willing to let him, or is his heart as hidden as Ba Sing Se?





	A Little Water Quickens The Flame

Day 1

Lance runs up the winding staircase of the Western Air Temple, not able to fight off the wide grin spreading across his face as he took in the caverns and steep hills around him. He, only 19 and of all the water benders in the Northern or Southern tribe, was chosen to be on Avatar Allura’s team, to protect the four kingdoms and Capitol City. Lance knows he’s one of the best benders in both tribes and the best healer (which proves its not a gendered thing, thank you very much), but he still thought he might be skipped over. After all, there are better offensive benders who are still decent healers. But no, they’d chosen him and Hunk from the earth tribes and –

Keith of the Fire Nation, though he spends most of his time with the Air Nomads. Lance comes to a dead stop, hands dropping to his side at the unfairness of it all. Keith, his longtime rival on the same team as him. Lance shakes his head; hands unconsciously sliding to his hips as he glares over at Keith, expecting an arrogant smirk or devilish throw of the head from the other boy, like his favorite villains always did in the movies. Instead Keith blinks at him, gaze growing wide and mouth turning into a gentle pout as stares back at Lance. Huh. That is weird. “I guess you didn’t expect to see me here either, did you Keith?” 

“No one said who any of the other benders were, so … no?” Keith asks, frowning a little as he walks over to Lance, crossing his arms as he peers at him. Lance rolls his eyes, staring down at the other man and taking a certain smug satisfaction in the fact that Keith hasn’t grown since he was 17 and still at bending camp with Lance. “Oh! You’re that water bender from camp. Lance, right?”

“What?! I was your rival?” Lance snaps, shaking his head a little as Keith’s eyebrows rose in confusion. Either Keith has been to the darker parts of Ba Sing Se or was pretending not to remember to him to be a jerk. Lance has the feeling it was the second one. “You know, Lance the charming and perfectly trained bender versus Keith the hotheaded powerful but terrible technique wise bender?”

“You’re a water bender and I’m a fire bender, that doesn’t even make sense,” Keith answers back, gaze sliding back into the tight glare that Lance grew used to him wearing everyday at training camp those three summers. Only Shiro can get him to drop it, but Shiro is on the other side of the temple right now. “And my technique is perfect, you just don’t know the right people. Not that I’m surprised.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean? My tribe are all bending geniuses and way _better_ than an of those bending instructors in the Fire Nation!” Lance yells, waving his hands in Keith’s face as the other boy stares at him blankly.

Then something strange happened. Keith smiles, small and rueful, gaze far away as he turns on his heel. “Well we can agree on one thing, at least.”

And with that Keith walks away, orbiting around Shiro like he is the sun (like he has been since Keith was 14 and Shiro was Lance didn’t know how old, because they were both closed off to everyone but each other) and leaving Lance to try and understand the meaning behind his words.

Day 23

Lance sighs, pushing an exhausted Keith back, not able to hide his slightly smug grin when Keith topples over with ease. Keith rolls his eyes in return, holding out his arm pointedly. “The only reason you were able to knock me over is because I’m injured, which you’re supposed to be healing, idiot.” 

“Oh, _I’m_ the idiot when you’re the one who dived in front of Shiro and got themselves hit by lightning they’re supposed to be able to bend?” Lance asks, quirking an eyebrow as he carefully lifted the jug of water from the floor, glancing down at Keith’s arm with a slight grimace. Keith has the decency to pout sheepishly, though there was no shame in his eyes, no doubt that he made the right choice. There never has been, even when they were both barely teenagers. It’s one of the things Lance has always envied about the other boy. Until today anyway. “Don’t look so proud of yourself, you could’ve died.” 

“I’d die for Shiro anytime,” Keith answers with a determination and ferocity that genuinely terrifies Lance for a second.

 “Yeah, you know who wouldn’t be happy about that? Shiro,” Lance tells Keith, stare as cold as the water he was pressing into Keith’s arms. Keith holds his gaze, looking lost at Lance’s words, as though he can’t imagine anyone considering his life worth as much as Shiro’s, even Shiro. Lance heart breaks a little for his rival then. Unrequited love, or at least partially unrequited, is a bitch. “And you know, I’d be sad too.”

“Why?” Keith asks and Lance is ready to snap when he sees wide eyes and a small, confused pout on Keith’s face and almost ruins his healing spell. 

“Did you just ask me why I’d be sad if you died?!” Lance yells, barely managing to keep his concentration on the healing he was still doing to Keith’s gnarly looking arm. Keith frowns, free arm coming up to hug himself a little at Lance’s words. It takes Lance a second to realize he wanted to cross his arms. “You’re my teammate, Keith, as annoying as your whole broody loner thing might be, I still care about you, even if you won’t learn the team cheer. Plus, who else am I gonna have as a rival? Pidge is a non-bender and Hunk is my best friend.”

“… I don’t understand the team cheer,” Keith mutters under his breath after a second, gaze dropping to the thin white blanket spread across his legs, in stark contrast to the deep red of his tunic. Lance stares, eyebrows practically hitting his hairline because that’s what Keith took from what he just said? Also _what_? “The reason I don’t do it. I don’t get it.”

“I – you’re – look, we’ll work on it, okay?” Lance says with a soft, almost invisible smile, barely able to hold back from calling his rival adorable. Keith seems to have caught the underlying meaning of his ramble though, a light flush spreading across his cheeks.

“Thank you, Lance,” Keith answers with a ghost of a smile on his own face, wincing slightly as Lance heals a few more of his burns. They’ll be gone in a few hours, and if Keith is lucky and Lance as talented as he thinks, they won’t even leave a scar. 

“Any time, Keith,” Lance tells him as he moves away from his arm, ducking his head a little to hide the wide smile growing on his face. Maybe having his rival on his team doesn’t have to be such a nightmare after all. 

Day 52

“Watch it! You almost destroyed that garden,” Lance shouts, grabbing Keith by the arm so that the next flame flying off his leg doesn’t hit a nearby tree, or worse, a child. When they prevented the most recent raid on the villages near Capitol City, they agreed to stay on and help clean up. Keith though, is proving useless for this particular job. 

“Sorry! Sometimes the fire just goes where it wants with a kick,” Keith answers with a small shrug, and Lance can’t help but sigh, feeling incredulous. It’s so irresponsible for someone who normally takes themselves waaay too seriously. Except then Keith flinches at the sigh, gaze dropping to the slightly burn grass spread between them. “I know it’s not supposed to, okay?!” 

“Then why don’t you practice your technique?” Lance says with a frown, trying to keep his voice even. Keith trains with his swords, with his weird dance moves, all the time, but Lance never sees him working on his technique. Looking back, he doesn’t remember Keith working on it at Bending camp either. He mostly just stayed glued to Shiro’s side, because they were one of _those_ couples or almost couples or whatever they were, even if Keith was a lot more openly affectionate than Shiro. “I’m not trying to be a jerk, but half your moves look like you’re dancing and the other half look like air bending moves.”

“That’s because they are,” Keith finally mutters, cheeks heating as he glances up at Lance desperately, as though he expects to be rejected any second. Lance blinks a little at that, reaching out one hand to grip Keith’s shoulder reassuringly, smiling when Keith’s response is to relax under his touch, shoulders slouching and breath evening out a bit. “Look, I was trained by some street dancers when I was little, and then I met Shiro and he did his best at bending camp.”

“So you don’t know any firebending moves and you’re still here?” Lance asks, not able to keep the awe out of his voice. He knows Keith is naturally gifted, maybe more than any fire bender living right now. But that’s a level of instinctive talent and ability Lance can’t even fathom enough to be jealous of. Not yet, anyway.

Keith huffs a little, gaze the softer glare Lance has learned means he’s embarrassed. “I know some! Just not all of them.”

“Well, then do you want me to show you some?” Lance offers, smiling down at the smaller bender, slowly letting go of his shoulder. Keith stares back at him blankly, eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. Lance is about to tease him when he realizes why Keith is confused and lets out a small laugh instead. “I studied every type of bending at school so I’d be ready no matter who I was fighting. I still remember most of the fire bending techniques I learned. They won’t be perfect, but they’ll be better than you just winging it all the time.”

“Oh. You’re really smart,” Keith says in a tone that is more confirmation than surprise, cocking his head as he looks at Lance thoughtfully. For a second, a small stupid part of Lance that is still 16 half expects Keith to call him a nerd. It must show on his face, because Keith holds his hands up with his palms outward, gently shaking his head so his bangs fall across his face. “I mean it! Most people would never think to study other bending techniques like that.” 

“Oh, well, thank you. And you know, you’re winging it is pretty impressive in a fight,” Lance tells him with a grin, patting him on the shoulder and earning a small eye roll from Keith. The playful smile that follows is unexpected but Lance can’t say it’s not welcome. “So you wanna see what I know that you don’t and vice versa?”

“Might as well let you see what you memorized in real life,” Keith promises, playful smile sliding into the teasing smirk Lance is graced with more and more, gaze surprisingly soft as he grabs Lance’s arm. “Don’t get scared of the flames, Water boy.”

“Whatever, flameface, I could douse you anytime,” Lance says with a snort, jogging with Keith toward the practice ring they’ve set up nearby. Keith memorizes the techniques with an ease that would’ve made Lance jealous a few days ago. Today it just makes him smile.

Day 70 

Lunar Eclipses. Aka Lance’s least favorite part of the year. He learned to memorize them from a young ago, so he’s able to give the team plenty of warning, but it still sucks that he has to go several hours with no bending. He’s been rendered useless, and it’s not exactly like he’s the MVP of their team normally. So yeah, Lance might be pouting a little bit from where he’s sitting on the ledge looking out at the lake he can’t even play with, especially with Keith being the one on guard duty.

He and Keith are friends now, bonded by the time Lance spent teaching Keith all the firebending techniques he knows. The job has since been passed onto Allura (who caught them outside practicing and proceeded on lecturing both of them, probably rightfully, for keeping Keith’s lack of formal training a secret. Lance doesn’t even want to know what she did to Shiro). But that doesn’t mean Lance wants Keith looking down at him the way he is now, eyebrows scrunched and arms crossed just a hair too tightly to be casual. 

“So you really lose your powers _every_ lunar eclipse?” Keith asks in a surprisingly soft voice as he takes a step closer to Lance, gazing down at him in surprise. 

“Yeah,” Lance says after a beat, with a practiced shrug from years of lying about being okay when he wasn’t. Keith stares back at him, cocking his head with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth, and Lance can’t stop himself from snorting a little. For someone so intense and seemingly mature, Keith didn’t know very much about the world. “Firebenders lose theirs during a normal one.” 

“Yeah, but those only happen once every couple hundred years, lunar eclipses happen all the time,” Keith corrected, voice rising a little as he threw his arms out, half in worry and half with the same surprise from before. Lance frowned tightly, because yeah, thanks for the reminder, Keith. Keith sighs a little, shaking his head as he suddenly kneels down next to Lance. “Sorry. I’m … I’m not great at this.” 

“Talking?” Lance asks with a low scoff as he wraps his arms around his legs. A flash of pain flits across Keith’s gaze, mouth twisting into a grimace that makes Lance think he’s not the first person to say that to the other boy. Lance gives Keith a sheepish smile, gently nudging him with his shoulder. “Sorry, I’m just a little tense on account of not being able to protect myself or help any of you if you get injured protecting me.”

“Well then, we’ll just have to be careful not to get hit,” Keith says, voice tight and determined, and Lance almost expects him to make a fist. Instead Keith gives him a small smile, crooked and sweet, as he leans into his shoulder a bit. 

“Yeah, yeah, it just sucks not being able to do the one thing that makes me an asset,” Lance murmurs, too dazzled by that smile to realize he’s being vulnerable to his friend-but-also-rival until it’s too late. Keith raises his eyebrows, frowning a little as he glances at Lance in confusion. Lance shakes his head, trying to put on his most charming smile and begging the Moon this isn’t one of those times. “Forget what I just said. Erase it from your memory.” 

“No, what are you talking about?” Keith asks, voice taking on a harsh edge as he leans forward, expression growing tighter and a little annoyed as he gazes up at Lance. Lance is about to be mad, but then he realizes this is the same expression Keith makes when someone accuses Shiro of not being a true airbending master. Keith isn’t annoyed with him, but _for_ him. “Lance, you’re important. You’re important even without your bending.” 

“Please, I’m not good at fighting like you and Shiro or a mechanical genius like Hunk and Pidge, and I’m not a walking encyclopedia of different cultures like Coran and Allura,” Lance lists off, holding up one finger each time he adds a new pair of his friends and their skillset. Once it’s laid out like that, it shouldn’t be hard for anyone to see that he’s the odd one out here. 

“Yeah, maybe not, but you’re a great planner. You come up with more than half of our ideas. Maybe you can’t build things, but you know how to use them and how to be pragmatic in the moment. And you’re one of the best, if not the best, healer in the water tribes right now,” Keith says, his voice and expression both growing softer, warmer as he speaks. His gaze is open and almost a little tender, honest. Keith means all of this and it makes him a little sad when makes a small sound of surprise at his words. “Plus, you’re good with people. You make us friends and allies wherever we go, if it was up to me everyone would hate us.” 

“Thanks Keith,” Lance mutters, voice small and soft. Keith starts to nod when Lance throws his arms around him, pulling him into a quick tight hug. Keith returns it after a second, a bit of his hair brushing against Lance’s chin. Then he pauses, biting his lip a little. Keith hadn’t looked upset when he said everyone would hate him, just matter of face, but Lance isn’t going to let that go when Keith just comforted him. “They wouldn’t, you know. Hate us. You’re not as much of a jerk as you think. Or as … some people might have thought before they got to know you a little.”

“Thanks, but I know I have … issues socializing. I spent a lot of time alone as a kid,” Keith murmurs, that soft shy smile coming back across his face as the hug breaks apart. Lance wants to point out that he’d probably have a lot less issues if he let people see that face instead of his glare, but he bites his lip. It’s not his place, and something about even thinking of saying that makes Lance’s face heat up a little.

“Not me, my family’s huge,” Lance says instead, smiling softly and looking out over the lake, gaze growing far away and smile gentle as he thinks of them. “I have a lot of sisters and brothers.”

He can feel Keith’s stare, curious and almost anxious on him without looking back, the other boy inching closer to him. An awkward silence passes as they stare out at the ocean together, neither of speaking for a moment. Then Keith finally glances back up at him, cocking his head a little. “What are they like?”

Lance takes a deep breath, turning his gaze away from the water to meet Keith’s own, smiling widely. There were few things Lance liked more than talking about his awesome, awesome family. “They’re all older, Roberto is almost 30, and he’s smart, so smart. He’s a lawyer in Capitol City. He’s really patient, I think because he was so much older. Laura is 26, she’s a teacher at the waterbending academy. She seems sweet, but she’ll tease you mercilessly if you cross her,” “And then there’s the twins, Maya and Logan. They’re 22. Maya is a free spirit, she’s not a bender but she’s an amazing healer. She wants to be a vet. Logan is a bender, but he just wants to work in business even though it’s super boring, and – sorry I rambled. My parents are great too.” 

“I’m glad, you deserve that,” Keith answers, gaze and tone both surprisingly wistful as he stares up at Lance. Lance frowns a little at that, because it almost sounds like Keith thinks _he_ doesn’t deserve that. But – Keith is a good person, if a little grumpy and impulsive, and he can even be a lot of fun now that he’s started to let his guard down. Lance is sure he must have– he deserves to have– good parents, if maybe a little too serious about Keith needing to be a good warrior considering they never taught him bending. When Lance comes out of his reverie, Keith is staring at, cheeks flushed and mouth formed into a small pout, bangs falling across his face. “Did I get too serious again?” 

“A little, but it’s okay, honestly it’s kind of cute when it’s stuff like that,” Lance admits with a soft smile as he leans in toward Keith. Keith leans back, face still flushed as their hands brush together. Lance lets out a small sigh, leaning forward because suddenly it hits him that he’d like to kiss Keith and they’re alone -

“Lance, Keith!” Hunk’s voice rings out as the other boy jumps out of the bushes, Lance falling backwards and away from Keith, scrambling on the ground in surprise. He glares a little at Hunk for ruining the mood, and Hunk frowns scrunching his eyebrows in confusion and hurt. “Shiro and I are here so Keith can get some well-needed sleep.”

“Hey Hunk,” Lance finally mutters with a sigh, giving his friend a tired smile as he stands up to pat him on the shoulder. It’s not Hunk’s fault he ruined what was maybe gonna be a really rad first kiss.

“Shiro, can I talk to you for a second, by the trees?” Keith asks as he also stands, frowning a little with a tight gaze as he looks over at the other man. All of the softness and the blush from before are gone, replaced with the anxious expression that Keith wears too often for Lance’s liking now that they’re friends. 

“Of course,” Shiro answers with a warm smile, though Lance can see the worry in his eyes as he starts walking over to the trees a few feet away, Keith following hurriedly. Lance watches as Keith whispers something, Shiro nodding and something soft and amused enters his gaze. Shiro gently grabs Keith’s shoulder, resting his hand there as he whispers something back that makes Keith’s face light up. Keith’s smile is gentle and his gaze can only be described as adoring, and suddenly Lance is reminded that the kiss wouldn’t have gone anywhere anyway.

Keith’s heart has always already belonged to someone else (though, something about the way Keith looks at Shiro is familiar to Lance, makes him think it’s not romance but something else, but maybe that’s just because Lance wants it to be).

“Hey, I’m curious too, but we probably shouldn’t stare, Keith can sense that kind of stuff,” Hunk suddenly murmurs, nudging Lance on the shoulder with his own, grin a little teasing as he catch’s Lance’s eye.

Lance gives one, final lingering look to the bright smile on Keith’s face and expression tender and almost a little awed. Something about it – Lance could swear it’s not the look of a crush, but something Lance can’t place. But know he’s kidding himself, and Hunk is right. He’s being rude. “Yeah, yeah. Tell me about the village.”

Lance spends the rest of the knight hearing about an earthbender named Shay who specializes in crystals and who Hunk clearly has a huge crush on, and tries to forget the look on Keith’s face when they almost kissed (he doesn’t manage it).

Day 87

Lance sighs in a small voice, glancing over at Keith staring across the Ba Sing Sae harbor with a blank expression. They thwarted a Rogue Bender attack a few hours later, blocking them from stealing important medical supplies heading to Capitol City. Lance and Keith agreed to stay behind and watch the harbor until the last ship went out, just to make sure no Rogue Benders showed up. And now two hours had gone by, and none had.

Lance knew that’s for the best, and it meant that the Rogue Bender’s base must be getting weaker. Soon they might finally be able to break through their defense and enter Capitol City. Doesn’t make sitting on the wall with nothing happening any less boring though. Lance can tell Keith feels the same way, given how he’s kneeling on the ledge, face pressed into one hand while the other did fire tricks. 

“Potentially awkward question,” Lance says, watching the fire with a raised eyebrow, because Keith’s memorized everything he and Allura had to teach him in record time. Keith’s smart too, kinetic and instinctive in a way that’s perfect for learning bending. So the fact he never really did, not properly anyway, until now is … weird. Really weird. Keith though, pouts up at him, glaring softly though his gaze is more nervous than anything else. “Okay, probably shouldn’t have led with that, going by your face.” 

“It’s a little ominous,” Keith admits with a small snort, shaking his head a little bit. A beat passes between them, Lance glancing across the ground to make sure there is still no one suspicious walking around. Nope. Just his luck. Keith suddenly coughs, nudging Lance with his foot a little and somehow managing not to fall of the ledge at the same time. “What? You can’t say that and then not ask.” 

Okay, okay, so … why were you trained by fire dancers and not you know, at the firebending academy?” Lance asks and winces a little as he talks, because the question feels awkward now, with the confused look Keith is giving him.

Keith’s expression quickly changes into something else, soft and a little ashamed as he moves back on the ledge a bit, letting one leg hang off the edge and brush against the roof. Lance crosses his arms loosely and gives him an encouraging smile, though he’s not sure if he’s encouraging Keith to explain or to tell him to shove it. “You said it yourself. Lots of raw power.” 

“Okay, not really a helpful answer there, buddy, because then shouldn’t they have wanted you more, or even the government? Did…” Lance trails off, trying to think of an explanation that even made sense. Keith’s ridiculously powerful, in some places he’d already be an officer just because of his natural bending skills. Oh! Maybe Keith’s parents are pacifists. After all, Team Avatar is by default made up of technical ones, so maybe Allura had sought people who were in other nations too. And he does spend a lot of time with airbenders. “Did someone not want you to join up with the military or something like that?”

“Yeah, the military who discouraged the schools from taking me on as a student,” Keith says, tone bitter as he kicked a roof tile, glaring softly at the ground. His lips were pressed into a thin line. Lance leans down to meet his gaze, not able to keep his confusion out of his eyes as he met Keith’s hurt expression. Keith shrugged, letting out a scoff that sounded a little watery. “The last person in the fire nation on record as having as much raw power as me was Azula, and we all know how that turned out.”

Lance frowned, expression tight as he met Keith’s gaze. Holding Keith responsible for someone else’s actions, when he was only a kid, was unfair. Wrong. Lance reaches over and gently ruffles his hair, and Keith gives him a small smile in return, some of the hurt going out of his gaze. Still, Lance has questions and now that he’s started asking them, he can’t stop. “Yeah, but that was over a 100 years ago, so they can probably move on. Didn’t your family object? Were your parents both non-benders?” 

“My mom was a firebender, but she died a few weeks after I was born, she was sick,” Keith explains, voice small and far away as he glances up toward the sky, hands falling to his side. Then Keith’s expression grows more pained, eyes a little watery. “My dad was an airbender, so he couldn’t teach me a lot beyond the basics. But … he left when I was almost 8.” 

“Keith, I’m … I’m so sorry,” Lance murmurs, shaking his head because he never would’ve guessed, but now that knows it makes a weird sort of sense. Keith’s always worried about being left behind, thinks nothing of risking his life to protect the people he wants to keep. That makes sense, knowing other people he wanted didn’t even bother to stick around. Lance reaches out thoughtlessly and grabs Keith hand, surprised when the other boy doesn’t pull away. “Did the fire dancers, did they raise you after that then?” 

“Yeah, they let me sleep at their hall if I did chores for them, and since I was a kid they decided to teach me firebending,” Keith explains softly, expression growing a little warmer as he talks about his friends there, gently squeezing Lance’s hand. Then he smiles, sheepish and a little nervous. “Don’t tell anyone, but I was a junior dancer until I was 13.” 

“Okay, first of all I’m clearly going to tell everyone,” Lance teases lightly, laughing until Keith starts to as well, the other boy’s shoulders shaking gently as he leans toward Lance. They’re still holding hands, and Lance thinks of Shiro and wants to pull away but … Keith is loyal, to a fault. Lance is missing something and he needs answer. “Is that how you met Shiro? You were the cute junior dancer that caught his eye, and then when you were both older you started dating? Or did the little brother he used to mention sometimes in training like you and he stole you away or -” 

“What?” Keith cut him off, pulling his hand away and paling. He makes a small retching noise, eyes wide and a little wild as he stares at Lance. Correction, Lance is _definitely_ missing something. “You – you think Shiro and I are dating?!” 

“Are you not?” Lance asks in a small voice, not quite able to keep the hope out of it as he glances over at Keith with scrunched eyebrows. 

“The reason I stopped being a junior dancer is because Shiro’s family adopted me when I was 13,” Keith shouts, crossing his arms as he rolls to his feet, pacing across the roof. Suddenly, Lance knows where he’s seen Keith’s adoring, awed gaze before. It was on _himself_ , when Roberto or Maya complimented him or did something cool. He’s an idiot. “Oh my Agni. I can’t believe – _I’m_ the little brother.”

“Yeah, starting to get that,” Lance mutters as he stands up, shrugging a little because it’s not his fault that Shiro and Keith weren’t clearer about that. Keith shoots him a tight, knowing look, and yeah, it is Lance’s fault he didn’t ask before assuming they were a couple and he’d be pretty grossed out if someone thought he was dating any of his siblings. Keith’s reaction is fair, even if Lance can’t stop the bubble of relief growing in his chest. “Sorry, sorry, I should have asked instead of making assumptions.” 

“Yeah, you should’ve,” Keith says flailing his arms in the air before crossing them, glaring at Lance with a small pout. It’s a look that annoyed Lance once, but now he mostly finds kind of adorable (it helps that Keith is all of 5’6’). “Stop smiling, it’s not funny.”

“It’s a _little_ funny,” Lance points out with a small, playful smirk, because this is a miscommunication for the ages. After a second Keith is clearly fighting back a smile, lips tugging upward as laughter fills his gaze. Then Keith starts laughing for real, soft and then louder as he leaned toward Lance. Lance throws an arm around his shoulder and when Keith again doesn’t push him off, Lance lets it linger there. “So, I told you about my family, tell me about yours, Keith Shirogane.”

“First of all, it’s still Keith Kim, but gladly,” Keith answers with his shy smile. His warm and adoring as he talks about his adoptive family, and Lance finds himself entangling his hand with Keith’s by the time their time in Ba Sing Sae is done.

Day 100

Lance watches as Keith freezes against his will, body literally shaking with pain. Somewhere, there’s a bloodbender and Lance needs to find them fast. Keith glances around as much as he can, biting back the scream of pain Lance is sure he wants to let out as he tries to find an escape. Keith has good instincts and Lance can’t belief they’re failing him now. Then suddenly Lance sees them out of the corner of his eye, the cloaked and holding their hands in a familiar position. Lance shoots the bloodbender quickly, knocking them off their feet. They hit the ground at the same time Keith stumbled forward, grinning thankfully – just in time to see him hit by an earthbender’s stones. Hard. “Lance!” 

“Hey Keith, I’m impressed you can lift me,” Lance groans as Keith pulls him into his arms, and Keith lets out a small sigh as he runs a finger over Lance’s forehead. Keith pulls his hand back and his gaze grows dark as he sees the red on his fingertips. Lance gives him a weak smile, trying to keep the mood from getting too heavy. They’ve won the battle after all. “All those years of sword training did wonders for your upper body strength.”

 “Save the jokes for when you’re not bleeding, it’s bad to laugh,” Keith snaps, voice tight and harsh as he lifts Lance and starts moving as swiftly as he can toward the medical tents. Keith seems mad which Lance knows now means he’s terrified. Keith glances down at him, his fear more obvious in his gaze as his voice grows unsure. “Right?” 

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right,” Lance promises as Keith pushes through the front of a tent, gently laying Lance out on of the tents. The woman in the room runs out, apparently not a healer herself. Keith sits next to him, biting his lip, fingers lingering on his lips like he wants to bite his nail. Lance has only seen him this worried (Well a lot more worried, but the actions are the same) once before and that was when Shiro got way, way more injured in the first battle with the Rogue Benders when the rest of them were still in school. “Keith you don’t have to look so worried!” 

“You got injured protecting me,” Keith says in a tight voice, shame and guilt filling his gaze as his fingertips brush over Lance’s hand. Keith glances up at him with watery eyes. Lance shakes his head, weakly clasping Keith’s hand with his own. He’s not gonna let Keith blame himself for this.

“Yeah, I did, and you got injured before protecting Shiro,” Lance corrects him gently, ignoring the mild hypocrisy of how mad he’d been when Keith did that. He understands the why better now. He thinks they would all die for each other, if they thought it was the only way. That’s scary and beautiful all at the same time. He gives Keith a weak smile, gaze soft as he squeezes his hand. “We’re a team, Keith, it’s what we do.” 

Keith bites his lip, looking down and taking a deep breath. Then he snaps again, though there’s none of his usual fire behind his words, just nerves. “I know! I just don’t want you to do it for me!”

“Hypocrite,” Lance teases, voice light and isn’t it funny he’s calling Keith one right after thinking that about himself. They’re more alike than he thought, all those years ago at the training camp. “Keith, I’m gonna be okay. There are three healers here, and you know, I’m not too shabby myself. If worse comes to worse, I can guide you through helping me.”

“I know, but when you dived in front of me, I was scared,” Keith admits, voice small and soft as he leans forward, face only a few inches away from Lance’s own. His gaze is soft and nervous, face flushing a little as his gaze suddenly drops from Lance’s eyes to land somewhere closer to his shoulders. He seems almost … embarrassed. “I was so afraid of losing you, before I could even tell you – never mind.” 

“No, Keith, tell me what? If it was important I kind of need to know, and I’m clearly okay, I’m still talking,” Lance mutters, because he needs to know what Keith means, especially when Keith is making that soft shy expression, hand shaking a little where it’s still holding Lance’s own.

Keith’s gaze slowly grows more determined, grip going from shaking to almost too tight as Keith lunges forward, capturing Lance’s mouth in a short, sloppy kiss. Lance freezes beneath him, gaze growing wide as Keith pulls back, blush now spreading down his neck as he took a step back. Apparently he isn’t the only one whose been pining after all. 

Lance opens his mouth a little, trying to think of what to say. “Keith.”

Smooth, Lance, he thinks to himself with a slight wince as Keith scrambles backward, letting go of his hand as his back hits the wall and two women from the Northern Water Tribe enter the room.

“The healers are here, I need to go back to the battlefield, see if anyone else is hurt,” Keith calls in a slightly strangled voice, crossing his arms as he takes a few steps toward the front of the tent. He stops there near the flap, smiling softly as he glances over at Lance. “Get better, Lance.”

“Definitely will now,” Lance says in a flirtatious voice, wriggling his eyebrows a little as Keith’s flush deepens again. The other boy stumbles out of the tent, and Lance falls asleep. He knows they should talk about what happened, but Keith never brings it up after Lance wakes up and Lance can’t quite bring himself, not in the middle of a war.

 

Day 120

“We won,” Lance murmurs when the dust of the final battle settles and he finds Keith sitting outside on the balcony, apparently no more able to sleep than Lance. They’ve spent the better part of six months fighting the Rogue Benders everyday, of trying to break through their wall and rescue Capitol City. And now they’ve done it and the city is free and safe, rightful leaders back in the city. It’s almost anticlimactic. “Capitol City is finally free of the Rogue Benders.” 

“We should’ve thought of a better name for them,” Keith answers in a playful voice, smirking up at Lance as he inches a little closer to him. Keith’s hair, pulled back into a topknot with his messy bangs still falling across his face (Keith tells him it’s called the Zuko style and Lance spends several entertaining hours comparing Keith to the emperor when he was a hotheaded teenager while Keith got increasingly annoyed). He looks sweet, softer now that he’s out of his fighting uniform. 

“Yeah, we really let Allura down there,” Lance agreed with a bright grin, leaning over to ruffle Keith’s hair and inadvertently undoing part of his top knot. Keith reaches out and undoes the rest, sliding his hair tie onto the balcony. Keith looks over at the city, gaze far away and a little lost. It reminds Lance of his expression on the last day of camp. Lance looks at Keith thoughtfully, smile a little softer as he reaches over and brushes his hand over Keith’s. “Hey, Keith?”

“Yeah?” Keith asks, scrunching his eyebrows, gaze a little anxious as he leans toward him.

   “What are you gonna do, now that Team Voltron is being disbanded?” Lance says, raising an eyebrow as Keith blanches a little, one hand coming down to grip the railing. Keith’s biting his lip, shoulders slightly tense. Lance has the feeling he’s not the first one to bring this up to Keith tonight. 

“To be honest? I don’t know,” Keith admits with a sigh, shaking his head so his hair flops a little. He glances over at Lance with a smile that reads more like a grimace. Lance frowns at that, inching a little closer so his hand covers Keith’s more fully. He looks like he could use some support. “I was pretty lost after bending school, before Allura made the team. I love the Shiroganes, but I’m not really good at being an air nomad.”

“You are pretty emotional for that,” Lance teases gently, earning a brief glare from Keith that quickly turns into him sticking his tongue out, grip on the railing loosening a little. Lance gives a playful smirk wriggling his eyebrows again and Keith flushes, because apparently he still remembers the kiss too. That’s promising.

“Yeah,” Keith mutters as he turns his gaze away from Lance again, eyes landing on a far away building. He bites his lip a little, something sad entering his frame as he asks his next question, a little longing. “You headed back to the Water Tribe?”

“Nope, staying here,” Lance answers with a small smile, following Keith’s gaze to the city. Lance has learned over the past few months that part of being a hero isn’t just saving the day, but staying to help pick up the pieces afterwards. Besides, Lance has always wanted to live in Capitol City since he was a kid, and what better time than when he can help it too? “Capitol City is going to need a lot of help rebuilding after what the Rogue Benders did, and a lot of little benders haven’t learned any skills yet. Figured there isn’t a better job than continuing the work we started.” 

“That sounds perfect for you,” Keith answers with a soft smile, gaze a little wistful as he turns away from the city almost reluctantly to glance back at Lance. Lance knows then that he’s making the right choice with what he says next.

“Not just me, you’d be good at it too. Even though you’re grumpy , kids love you because they can tell you’re a softie on the inside,” Lance points out, grinning when Keith gives blushes a little, pouting even though Lance call he’s touched by his words because of the warmth in his gaze. “And we could use someone to help with melting down stuff. Plus we could talk about that kiss.”

“I – I’m sorry,” Keith answers, glancing down as his blush deepens, hand sliding from the bar to instead clench at the air. Keith looks like he might run at any minute, and Lance can’t have that. Not before they get their big ending.

“Don’t be,” Lance says with a small grin, leaning forward and running a hand through Keith’s hair. Keith stares back at him, eyes wide as Lance fills the space between them, lips meeting in a soft kiss that’s more gentle, less sloppy than the one before. After a moment Keith starts to kiss him back, his hands finding their way to Lance’s waist.

“Does this mean you have a crush on me too?” Keith asks, voice a little breathless as they break the kiss. He’s staring up at Lance with an expression that’s adoring and longing, one hand sliding up from his waist to lie against his cheek again.

Keith’s smile is shy and a little nervous, like he thinks there’s a chance the answer is somehow still going to be no. Lance snorts at the idea and it soon turns into full out laughter, shoulders shaking as he leans toward Keith, leaning over to press his forehead against Keith’s. Keith asking that when Lance is pretty sure they might be in love at this point, or at least something close to it. “You’re adorable, so cute –“

Keith cuts him off with another kiss that Lance smiles against, softly squeezing Keith’s hand before they both turn to gaze out at the city. Keith curls into him, letting Lance wrap an arm around his shoulder and hold him tightly. Another new era is starting, one of peace and repair, and they’ll face it together hand in hand. Lance couldn’t want more than that.


End file.
